THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 

OF  CALIFORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES 


GIFT 


'%^ 


A  SKETCH 


ANNE    ROBERT  JACQ^UES 
TURCOT 


WirH  A  rRANSLATION  OF  HIS  LETrER   70 
DOCTOR   PRICE 


BOSTON 

Geo.    H.    Ellis,   Printer,   272  Congress  Street 

1899 


DC 


f.G 


IN    MEMORY 


OF 


WILLIAM    GARDINER    HAMMOND 

OF  ST.  LOUIS,  MO. 
The  Most  Learned  Civilian  in  the  United  States. 

TO    HIM    I    OWE    MY    APPRECIATION    OF    THE    VALUE     OF    THE 

ROMAN    LA\V,  AND    MY    RESPECT    FOR    THE    HIGHER 

BRANCHES   OF   JURISPRUDENCE 

AND  LEGISLATION. 


J.    M.   B. 

Jan.   io,  1899. 


93ie9P4 


SKETCH. 


Washington  and  his  associates  warned  their  coun- 
trymen against  entangling  alliances  with  the  European 
powers. 

M.  Turgot,  Minister  of  State  under  Louis  XVI.,  our 
great  friend  in  France,  in  his  letter  of  the  22d  of 
March,  1778,  to  Dr.  Price,  our  best  friend  in  London, 
in  relation  to  the  new  republic  writes,  "  In  order  that 
all  these  good  results,  which  he  foresaw  were  possible 
in  America,  may  be  brought  about,  it  will  be  necessary 
for  America  to  keep  itself  from  imitating  or  becoming 
an  image  of  Europe." 

Again,  he  goes  on  to  say  :  "  We  see  her  [America] 
irrevocably  independent.  Will  she  be  happy  in  her 
freedom  ?  This  new  nation  is  situated  so  advanta- 
geously to  give  the  world  the  example  of  a  constitution 
where  the  individual  enjoys  all  his  rights,  freely  uses 
all  his  faculties,  and  is  only  to  be  governed  by  nature, 
right,  and  justice.     But  will  the  people  know  how  to 


form  such  a  constitution  ?  Will  they  know  how  to 
ground  it  on  eternal  foundations  ?  America  is  the 
hope  of  the  human  race.  It  may  become  its  model. 
It  could  prove  to  the  world  by  deeds  that  men  can  be 
free  and  peaceful,  and  are  able  to  dispense  with  fetters 
of  all  kinds,  which  the  tyrants  and  impostors  have 
pretended  to  impose  upon  them  under  the  pretext  of 
the  public  good." 

In  regard  to  the  moral  sciences,  particularly  with 
the  noblest  of  them  all,  the  highest  statesmanship,  it 
is  otherwise.  Here  we  might  profit  by  the  experience 
of  Europe. 

It  requires  but  a  very  superficial  acquaintance  with 
juridical  history  to  know  that  a  broad  and  all-compre- 
hensive knowledge  of  the  Roman  law,  of  the  historical 
school  of  which  perhaps  Montesquieu  was  the  founder, 
of  the  Physiocrates  in  France,  of  Immanuel  Kant, 
of  Thomas  Hobbes,  of  Jeremy  Bentham  and  his  great 
followers,  is  necessary  for  that  end.  Now,  as  far  as  I 
can  find  out,  these  are  known  only  partially  in  our  law 
schools.  This  is  the  more  surprising,  inasmuch  as  the 
Americans  have  an  especial  talent  for  law,  producing 
the  best  of  legists.     In  historical  sense  they  seem  to 


be  deficient.  If  the  philosophy  of  evolution  is  correct, 
this  sense  is  as  necessary  here  as  it  is  in  geology  or  in 
any  other  science. 

It  has  been  my  good  fortune  during  the  last  few 
years  to  become  somewhat  acquainted  with  many  of 
the  works  of  the  above-mentioned  great  writers,  among 
them  with  M.  Turgot,  perhaps  the  noblest  of  them  all. 
A  sense  of  gratitude  and  admiration  leads  me  to  print 
this  humble  study  of  him.  To  it  I  have  annexed  an 
admirable  translation  of  M.  Turgot's  celebrated  letter 
lO  Dr.  Price,  made  for  me  by  my  friend,  Helen  Billings 
Morris.  Many  of  the  dangers  anticipated  by  M.  Tur- 
got have  been  obviated  by  the  great  freedom  and 
strong  political  sense  of  our  people.  But  it  would  have 
been  well,  had  we  heeded  his  counsels ;  namely,  against 
the  monarchical  militarism  of  Europe  (America,  he 
said,  is  destined  to  become  great,  not  by  war,  but  by 
culture),  against  great  taxes,  the  tendency  to  borrow, 
an  excessive  commercial  spirit.  lie  called  upon  us  to 
exhibit  an  example  of  political,  religious,  commercial, 
and  industrial  liberty.  He  himself  gave  an  example 
of  ability,  courage,  and  purity  in  office. 

These  were  his  contributions  to  the  political  moral 


currency  in  all  forms  of  government  and  to  all  times. 
These  counsels  and  acts  are  as  pertinent  now  as  they 
were  with  Moses  in  the  wilderness,  Christ  in  Jerusalem 
Marcus  Aurelius  in  Rome,  Washington  and  Lincoln  in 
America.  They  should  not  be  forgotten.  We  should 
teach  them  to  our  young  people,  and,  better  still,  act 
them  out  in  market-places. 

J.  M.  B. 
Jan.  io,  1899. 

The  photographic  portrait  is  taken  from  a  i2mo 
edition  of  Condorcet's  "  Vie  de  Monsieur  Turgot,"  pub- 
lished at  Berne,  chez  Kirchberger  &  Hatton,  Libraires, 
MDCCLXXXVII." 


ANNE    ROBERT   JACQUES   TURCOT, 

OF    FRANCE, 
Sometimes  called  ^^The  Godlike.''^ 

Born  May  io,  1727.  Died  March  18,  1781. 


By  nature  and  character,  great.  Fired  with  an  un- 
compromising love  of  truth. 

On  the  title-page  of  Condorcet's  "Vie  de  Turgot " 
we  have  these  lines  from  Lucan  :  — 

«'  Secta  fuit  servare  modum,  finemque  tenere, 
Naturamque  sequi,  patriaeque  impcndere  vitam  ; 
Non  sibi,  sed  toti  genitum  se  credere  mundo." 

L7ican. 

These  have  been  admirably  translated  by  Dr.  Will- 
iam Everett :  — 


io 


"  This  way,  this  creed  unmoved  stern  Cato  drew : 
To  keep  the  mean,  and  hold  the  end  in  view ; 
Nature  his  guide,  his  life  his  country's  own ; 
Born  for  mankind,  and  not  for  self  alone." 

They  were  originally  written  for  Cato  of  Utica,  but 
they  apply  more  fitly  to  Turgot. 

His  family  was  originally  from  Scotland,  settled  in 
Normandy  during  the  Crusades.  The  portraits  we 
have  of  him  show  this,  a  mixture  of  Scotch  good  sense 
and  French  refinement.  His  grandfather  and  his 
father  were  long  in  civil  life. 

His  mother  was  a  Martineau.     He  was  the  third  son. 

His  early  education  was  unfortunate.  His  mother 
did  not  understand  him,  disliked  his  fondness  for 
books.  She  desired  to  see  him  with  refined  manners, 
upbraided  him  for  his  gaucherie.  He  became  shy  and 
nervously  sensitive. 

It  is  thought  that  this  rather  unnatural  boy  life 
affected  his  whole  subsequent  career. 

At  his  schools  he  made  a  decided  advance.  First 
at  the  College  Louis  le  Grand,  then  at  the  College  au 
Plessis.  Here  he  formed  a  deep  friendship  with  Abbe 
Sigorgne,  and  learned  from  him  to  substitute  for  the 


fanciful  theories  of  Descartes  the  demonstrable  physics 
of  Newton.  Being  intended  for  the  Church,  he  was 
sent  to  St.  Sulpice  and  afterward  to  the  Sorbonne. 
In  these  schools  he  soon  showed  those  qualities  for 
which  he  was  distinguished  in  after  life, —  an  enthusias- 
tic love  of  literature,  prodigious  memory,  penetrating 
intellect,  sound  judgment,  a  readiness  to  share  his 
superior  means  with  the  poorer  pupils. 

Pure,  simple,  modest,  frank,  gay. 

At  the  Sorbonne  he  composed  and  delivered  pub- 
licly two  theses  in  Latin,  1750:  the  first,  "On  the 
Advantages  which  the  Christian  Religion  has  conferred 
on  the  Human  Race":  the  second,  "On  the  Succes- 
sive Advances  of  the  Human  Mind."  This  latter  was 
one  of  the  earliest  enunciations  of  the  doctrine  of  the 
perfectibility  of  the  human  race. 

His  belief  in  this  became  part  of  his  being,  gave  an 
impulse  to  his  culture,  and  inspired  his  whole  public 
life. 

He  availed  himself  of  the  excellent  library  of  the 
Sorbonne  to  translate  into  French  from  other  lan- 
guages, say  from  Greek,  Latin,  German,  Italian,  and 
English. 


12 


In  1749  his  first  paper  on  political  economy,  "Paper 
Money,"  exposing  the  fallacies  of  John  Law. 

At  twenty-three  years  of  age  he  renounced  his  in- 
tention of  a  clerical  career.  His  comrades  endeavored 
to  persuade  him,  but  in  vain.  He  told  them,  "It  is 
impossible  for  me  to  wear  a  mask."  His  father  con- 
sented :  but  he  died  in  175 1,  and  that  put  an  end  to 
his  life  at  the  Sorbonne. 

He  now  applied  himself  to  the  study  of  law,  without 
neglecting  his  literary,  mathematical,  and  scientific 
studies. 

In  1753  he  wrote  a  remarkable  paper  on  "Toleration, 
and  against  the  Interference  of  the  Temporal  Powers 
in  Theological  Disputes."  He  now  frequented  the 
salons  and  enjoyed  the  society  of  D'Alembert,  Mon- 
tesquieu, Helvetius,  Morellet,  Marmontel,  Galiani,  Ray- 
nal,  and  other  distinguished  men  and  women.  Among 
the  latter  was  Madame  Graffigny,  to  whom  he  addressed 
a  letter  on  "The  Education  of  the  Young,"  which 
acquired  notoriety  subsequently  through  Rousseau. 
And  now,  as  always,  amid  all  these  attractions,  male 
and  female,  he  would  not  surrender  himself  to  any 
coterie.     He  disliked  the  spirit  of  party  or  sect.     "It 


13 

is  this  spirit,"  he  has  said  a  hundred  times,  '•  that 
makes  enemies  to  useful  truths.  As  soon  as  savans, 
in  their  pride,  give  themselves  to  form  a  body,  to  say 
*  we,'  to  believe  themselves  able  to  impose  laws 
upon  public  opinion,  thoughtful  public  opinion  revolts 
against  them ;  for  it  wishes  to  receive  laws  from  truth 
only,  and  not  from  any  authority." 

In  1753  he  was  appointed  Maitre  des  Requites,  the 
exact  function  of  which  does  not  appear.  He  held  the 
position  nine  years. 

About  this  time  he  entered  into  relations  with  the 
Physiocrates  Quesnay,  Gournay,  and  others.  He  was 
attracted  to  them  by  similarity  of  views  on  social  and 
economical  subjects.  He  was  undoubtedly  the  most 
brilliant  of  the  group  of  these  illustrious  men,  but  even 
then  he  maintained  his  complete  independence  of 
judgment.  No  one  ever  illustrated  more  fully  that 
line  of  Henley's, — 

"  I  am  the  captain  of  my  soul." 

In  May,  1753,  he  accepted  a  seat  in  the  new  Royal 
Chamber  which  was  created  in  place  of  the  Parliament, 
then   exiled.     Here  he  made  himself  conspicuous    by 


opposing  the  political  influence  of  the  Parliament,  etc. 
During  this  period  he  contributed  to  the  discussion  of 
public  questions;  namely,  on  "Toleration,"  "Le  Con- 
ciliateur,"  a  translation  of  Dr.  Josiah  Tucker's  work 
on  the  "  Naturalization  of  Foreign  Protestants,"  five 
articles  to  the  Encyclopaedia. 

In  1755-56  he  accompanied  Gournay,  one  of  the 
founders  of  the  Physiocrates,  in  his  tour  of  inspection  ; 
and  he  subsequently  travelled  alone  in  Eastern  France 
and  Switzerland.  Here  he  met  Voltaire,  and  formed 
a  friendship  which  lasted  through  his  life. 

In  1 76 1  (thirty-four  years  of  age)  he  was  appointed 
Superintendent  of  Limoges. 

"  The  people  here  were  sunk  in  poverty  and  barbar- 
ism, with  poor  roads,  poor  soil,  oppressed  by  the  militia 
system,  by  the  corvee  a  system  of  enforced  labor  on 
the  roads  without  pay."  These  depressing  circum- 
stances were  no  obstacles  to  Turgot :  on  the  contrary, 
they  seemed  to  be  attractions.  "  He  wished  to  do 
something  before  he  died  (and  he  knew  that  his  life 
would  be  short)  to  relieve  the  misery  of  France  and 
to  help  the  world's  general  advancement."  Here,  he 
thought  was  a  chance. 


IS 

He  held  this  office  thirteen  years. 

One  of  his  first  objects  was  to  acquire  a  clear  knowl- 
edge of  facts.  For  this  purpose  he  addressed  a  circular 
to  his  sub-delegates,  specifying  j^oints  on  which  hp 
desired  information.  He  endeavored  to  inspire  these 
sub-delegates  with  his  own  enthusiasm,  thoroughness, 
and  respect  for  the  poor.  Rising  above  the  common 
prejudices  of  the  philosophers,  he  sought  the  co-opera- 
tion of  the  cures,  and  found  them  to  be  earnest  and 
active  assistants. 

One  of  the  most  arbitrary  and  cruel  taxes  collected  •. 
from  the  agriculturists  was  the  taillc.  It  is  estimated 
that  the  amount  of  this  and  all  the  other  taxes  was 
four-fifths  of  the  revenue  of  a  peasant  proprietor's  in- 
come. From  this  tax  the  superiors  in  rank  and  wealth 
were  exempt. 

"Turgot  condemned  this  tax,  but  he  was  obliged  to 
administer  the  law  with  as  much  fairness  and  with  as 
little  injustice  as  possible."  About  four  months  after 
his  appointment  he  obtained  a  declaration  from  the 
king  for  a  more  regular  assessment   of  the  taillc. 

An  opportunity  for  removal  to  a  better  paid  and 
easier  province  was  declined. 


i6 

He  continued  year  after  year  to  petition  the  general 
government  for  relief  in  vain,  but  he  was  not  dis- 
heartened. 

Another  infamous  tax  was  the  corvee.  "  By  this  the 
peasants  were  obliged  to  work  on  the  roads  without 
pay."     Here,  too,  the  privileged  classes  were  exempt. 

His  manner  of  dealing  with  the  corvee  was  a  simple 
one,  the  beginning  of  a  revolution.  He  put  com- 
petent workmen  on  the  roads,  paid  them,  superintended 
them  himself,  and  defrayed  the  expense  by  a  moderate 
tax  on  the  rate-payers.  The  roads  of  Limousin  became 
roads  indeed.  He  also  succeeded  in  abolishing  the 
military  corvee. 

His  next  great  reform  was  for  "freedom  of  the 
corn  trade."  This  probably  was  the  precursor  of  the 
great  movement  in  Great  Britain  seventy-four  years 
after,  and  of  "  free  trade "  everywhere  in  time  to 
come.  Here  he  had  against  him  the  conservatives 
and  the  selfishness  of  the  agriculturists  in  his  own 
province. 

In  1770  and  1771  a  famine  devastated  Limousin. 
"To  mitigate  this,  his  whole  energy  was  called  forth. 
Various    measures    were'  adopted,    but    the    greatest 


17 

caution  exercised  to  prevent  mendicity.  He  had  the 
greatest  sympathy  for  the  pauvres  hoiiteiix  (the  respect- 
able poor).  He  desired  a  special  fund  for  them,  to  be 
distributed  by  the  cures,  or  by  those  who  would  keep 
their  own  counsel."  "  When  he  had  exhausted  the 
public  funds  available  for  relief,  he  incurred  a  personal 
debt  of  20,000  livres  for  that  purpose." 

The  difficulty  ceased  latter  part  of  1771.  Other  re- 
forms carried  out  by  him  in  Limousin  were  the  im- 
provement in  the  militia  drawing,  the  billeting  of  the 
soldiers  upon  the  people,  agricultural  methods  (he 
introduced  the  cultivation  of  the  potato),  veterinary 
science,  medical  assistance  for  the  poor,  especially  in 
midwifery.  On  one  of  his  official  visits  to  Paris  he 
met  Adam  Smith,  with  whom  he  made  an  intimate  and 
long  friendship.  There  can  be  no  doubt  that  Mr, 
Smith's  intercourse  with  Turgot  and  other  members  of 
the  Physiocratic  circle  had  a  great  influence  on  "The 
Wealth  of  Nations." 

During  his  residence  in  Limoges  he  wrote  and  pub- 
lished many  works  on  economic  subjects.  In  all  of 
these  he  showed  his  strong  good  sense,  and,  above  all, 
his  reliance  on  truth  and  freedom.     Unhappily,  his  sug- 


gestions  were  in  advance  of  his  time,  and,  I  fear,  of  our 
time.  Yet  the  time  will  come  when  his  principles  will 
be  the  common  practice  of  the  street,  and  when  men 
will  erect  statues  to  him. 

Mr.  W.  Walker  Stephens,  in  his  admirable  "  Life 
and  Writings  of  Turgot,"  in  English,  writes :  "  In 
Turgot's  letter,  written  one  hundred  and  twenty  years 
ago,  the  reader  will  observe  that  its  arguments  and 
illustrations  are  as  literally  as  true  now  against  the 
miserable  protectionist  fallacies  circulated  by  the  Re- 
publican party  in  the  United  States  as  originally  they 
were  against  the  narrow  views  of  M.  Terray."  M. 
Terray  was  the  restrictionist  against  whom  M.  Turgot 
wrote  his  letters. 

In  1774  Louis  XV.  died.  The  new  king,  Louis  XVI., 
and  the  new  Prime  Minister,  Count  de  Masuze,  invited 
Turgot  to  a  seat  in  the  cabinet.  This  ended  his  ser- 
vice at  Limoges.  He  had  given  to  them  the  best  part 
of  his  life.  It  had  been  a  daily  fight,  not  unsuccessful. 
He  left  the  province  better  than  he  found  it.  The 
people  loved  him  because  they  believed  in  his  integrity 
and  ability,  and  he  believed  in  them.  He  appealed  to 
their  reason  and    moral   sense,    came   down    to   them. 


19 

explaining  carefully  the  grounds   on  which  his  orders 
were  based.     He  never  treated  them  as  children. 

The  best  writers  on  government  —  Hobbes,  Mon- 
tesquieu, M.  de  la  Riviere,  the  Physiocrates,  Kant, 
Bentham,  Austin,  John  S.  Mill,  Dumont,  Hildreth — 
insist  upon  it  that  the  so-called  common  people  desire 
and  are  capable  of  understanding  the  elements  of 
economic  and  political  truths,  provided  they  are  taught 
by  well-trained,  educated,  able,  thoroughly  disinterested 
leaders.  Good  government,  they  maintain,  is  possible 
only  where  you  have  these  two  conditions  ;  namely,  the 
mass  of  the  people  instructed  in  the  elements  of  social, 
economic,  and  political  life,  and  a  body  oi  gc7is  Iiimineux, 
— "light-diffusing,"  unselfish,  courageous  men,  believ- 
ing in  and  loving  to  instruct  the  people. 

M.  Turgot  believed  in  these  conditions,  and  en- 
deavored to  realize  them  in  Limousin  ;  but  the  condi- 
tions then  existing  made  it  impossible. 

The  general  government  was  indifferent  to  his 
earnest  requests.  The  "local  nobility,  whose  privi- 
leges he  had  curtailed,  were  hostile  to  him.  But  the 
peasantry  understood  and  adored  him.  His  departure 
was  announced  by  the  cures,  who  celebrated  mass  on 


26 

his  account.  The  countrymen  suspended  their  work 
in  order  to  be  present,  and  cried,  '  It  is  wisely  done  by 
the  king  to  have  taken  M.  Turgot,  but  it  is  very  sad 
for  us  that  we  have  lost  him.' " 

Turgot's  motives  in  leaving  Limoges  for  a  higher 
position  were  that  he  thought  that  he  would  now  have 
the  opportunity  of  initiating  laws  of  administration  for 
all  France,  and  not  for  a  province  alone. 

His  first  appointment  was  as  Minister  of  Marines 
(July  20,  1774).  He  remained  here  only  two  months, 
when  he  was  appointed  Comptroller-general  of  Fi- 
nance (Aug.  24,  1774).  He  succeeded  Terray,  a  great 
rascal,  who  left  affairs  in  great  confusion,  which  gave 
Turgot  the  greatest  anxiety.  He  sought  an  interview 
with  the  king,  and  frankly  laid  before  him  his  fears  and 
his  hopes.  Louis  XVI.  was  deeply  impressed  by  his 
minister,  and  assured  him  of  his  support.  He  then 
addressed  a  letter  to  the  king,  which  became  one  of  the 
documents  of  French  history. 

No  Bankruptcy. 

No  Increase  of  Taxes. 

No  Loans. 


21 


He  warned  him  against  the  great  demands  made 
upon  his  kind-heartedness.  "You  must  reduce  ex- 
penditures below  revenue,  to  create  a  surplus  to  be 
applied  to  the  redemption  of  old  debts." 

"He  reminds  him  from  whence  the  income  came; 
namely,  from  the  people  already  overtaxed." 

Economy  and  wisdom  were  to  be  his  only  resources. 

Maurepas  proposed  to  recall  the  Parliaments. 

To  this  Turgot  was  opposed.  He  pressed  his  ob- 
jections on  the  king,  who  again  said  :  "  Fear  nothing. 
I  will  sustain  you."  In  September,  1774,  he  had  the 
satisfaction  of  issuing  a  decree  establishing  free  com- 
merce in  corn. 

It  was  the  custom  at  court  for  the  Farmers-genertil 
to  make  presents  to  influential  persons  on  the  occasion 
of  obtaining  contracts,— in  plain  terms,  bribes.  One 
was  offered  to  M.  Turgot,  which  he  at  once  declined. 
Moreover,  he  explained  this  dangerous  custom  to  the 
king,  and  induced  him  to  rebuke  it.  The  reforms  in- 
stituted by  him  were  the  octroi  duty,  the  disabilities  of 
foreigners,  and  certain  evil  practices  in  the  meat 
market. 

Early  in  1775  he  was  stricken  by  a  severe  attack  of 


21 

the  gout,  which  detained  him  four  months  in  his  cham- 
ber. This,  however,  did  not  prevent  him  from  a  heavy 
correspondence  in  relation  to  the  cattle  plague  (epizo- 
otic) and  the  taille,  in  which  he  obtained  some  mitiga- 
tions. The  corn  riots,  commencing  at  Dijon,  spread 
throughout  the  country.  The  king  was  alarmed, 
yielded  a  little  to  the  rioters,  but  soon  saw  his  mistake, 
and  summoned  Turgot  to  his  relief.  The  latter  re- 
mained firm,  adopted  the  most  vigorous  measures,  and 
was  at  last  entirely  successful. 

Louis  XVI.  was  consecrated  at  Rheims  June  15, 
1775.  It  was  customary  for  the  king  on  that  occasion 
to  swear  "  to  exterminate  all  heretics."  Turgot  was 
opposed  to  this,  and  addressed  a  memorial  to  him  "  Sur 
la  Tolerance."  The  clergy  endeavored  to  overcome 
the  young  monarch.  Turgot  tells  him  that  "  the 
Church  is  not  a  temporal  power.  The  prince  who 
orders  his  subject  to  profess  a  religion  he  does  not  be- 
lieve in  commands  a  crime."  Here  again  we  have 
courage,  a  constant  and  perpetual  desire  for  truth  and 
freedom. 

In  July,  1775,.  largely  through  Turgot's  influence, 
Malesherbes  was  induced  to  take  a  seat  in  the  cabinet. 


23 

He  was  another  noble,  pure-minded  patriot.  Unfortu- 
nately, he  lacked  the  indomitable  firmness  of  Turgot 
for  economy.  He  now  devotes  himself  to  his  chief 
duty  as  a  finance  minister,  the  Budget.  It  would  be 
useless  to  attempt  any  description  of  this  service. 
Suffice  it  to  say  that  he  showed  here  the  same  cour- 
age, clear-mindedness,  and  purity  which  always  distin- 
guished him. 

Besides  this  he  founded  new  chairs  of  science,  law, 
literature,  medicine,  hydro-dynamics,  the  metrical  sys- 
tem. By  an  order  of  March  24,  1776,  he  founded  the 
Caisse  (V Escoviptc  (Discount  Bank). 

In  1775  (assisted  by  his  friend  and  secretary,  Dupont 
de  Nemours)  he  laid  out  a  system  of  local  government, 
which,  however,  was  not  realized,  owing  to  his  loss  of 
office ;  and  the  same  may  be  said  for  his  system  of  na- 
tional education.  The  nobles  and  the  clergy,  the  two 
great  classes  in  France,  were  his  enemies.  They  could 
not  forget  or  forgive  his  destruction  of  their  privileges 
and  his  demand  for  toleration  ;  and  he  had  no  support 
from  public  opinion  or  a  constitution,  and  very  little 
from  the  king.     The  queen  disliked  him. 

"  He  had  the  audacity  to  desire  that  Christian  princi- 
ples should  govern  public  as  well  as  private  life." 


r 


24 

/  In  January,  1776,  he  addressed  to  the  king  his  "six 
/  projects  of  edicts "  against  many  abuses,  particularly 
\  the  cruel  corvee  and  jurandes.  As  these  taxes  favored 
the  privileged  classes,  there  was  a  great  opposition  to 
them.  Turgot  stood  almost  alone.  The  king  appar- 
ently took  side  with  his  minister ;  and  the  edict  was 
signed  for  all  six,  January  and  February,  1776. 

"  It  was  necessary  that  the  six  edicts  should  be 
registered  by  the  Parliament  in  order  to  acquire  legal 
force.  Here  there  was  a  bitter  opposition.  The  king 
remained  firm,  and  all  of  the  edicts  were  registered 
by  an  unwilling  Parliament."  "Turgot  had  gained  a 
victory,  but  by  it  he  lost  his  ministry." 

All  of  his  enemies  united  against  him.  "  Intrigue 
followed  upon  intrigue."  The  weak  king,  once  so  pro- 
fuse in  expressions  of  confidence,  deserted  him ;  and  so 
did  his  friend  Malesherbes.  He  addressed  several 
bold  letters  to  the  king,  warning  him  of  the  dangers 
he  was  running  from  selfish  advisers.  But  in  vain. 
He  was  dismissed  May  12,  1776.  "The  reformers 
were  in  despair. 

"  His  enemies  now  had  their  own  way.     Dupont,  his 


I 


\      private  secretary,  was  exiled,  the  corv^es  were  re-estab- 


^5 

lished,  so  the  juraiides,  the  freedom  of  the  corn  trade 
was  suppressed.  " 

It  cannot  perhaps  be  said  that  the  horrors  of  the 
Revolution  would  have  been  avoided,  had  M,  Turgot's 
advice  been  taken  ;  but  there  is  little  doubt  that  they 
would  have  been  lessened. 

"  Turgot's  dismissal  closed  forever  his  public  life." 
He  had  apparently  failed.  This  was  inevitable.  He 
found  an  ignorant  and  barbarous  people,  a  selfish,  preju- 
diced nobility,  a  sensual  and  weak  king.  He  was 
superior  to  his  times.  Had  he  lived  now,  he  would 
have  been  nearer  to  his  age.  Yet  even  now  we  are 
scarcely  fully  up  to  him.     Still,  it  will  come. 

He  carried  into  retirement  a  serene  and  cheerful 
mind.  Though  still  suffering  severely  from  malady,  he 
gave  himself  up  to  science,  literature,  and  the  relief  of 
the  unfortunate.  There  is  no  reason  to  believe  that  he 
ever  complained  of  the  deceit  and  neglect  which  he  had 
received  at  court. 

Geometry,  optics,  astronomy,  literature,  and  the 
classics.  One  of  his  last  employments  was  to  translate 
Horace's  ode  "  Aequam  memento."  We  have  seen  him 
cherishing  his  youth  by  the  classics  :  we  now  find  him 


26 

delighting  his  old  age  by  the  same  means.  To  his 
happy  days  they  had  been  an  ornament :  to  these  seem- 
ingly adverse  days  they  were  a  refuge  and  solace. 

In  other  words,  he  illustrated  the  words  of  Cicero  : 
"  Nam  haec  studia  adolescentiam  alunt,  senectutem 
oblectant ;  adversis  rebus  solatium  et  perfugium  prae- 
bent,  secundis  ornamentum." 

He  was,  it  is  claimed  by  some,  the  author  of 
the  epigrammatic  inscription  on  Franklin's  portrait, — 
"  Eripuit  caelo  fulmen,  sceptrumque  tyrannis " ;  by 
others  that  it  originated  with  Manillus,  a  Latin  poet, 
and  was  paraphrased  by  Turgot.  In  his  retirement  he 
enjoyed  the  society  and  correspondence  of  Lavoisier, 
D'Alembert,  Condorcet,  Boilieu,  Reed,  Franklin,  and 
Dr.  Price,  the  strong  friend  of  America,  Adam  Smith, 
and  others.  He  attended  the  meetings  of  the  Acad- 
emy of  Inscriptions,  of  which  he  was  Vice-Director  in 
1777. 

He  lived  long  enough  to  see  the  rise  of  the  Ameri- 
can republic.  In  common  with  Rousseau,  Kant,  Dr. 
Richard  Price  of  London,  and  other  philosophers,  he 
entertained  high  hopes  about  it.  They  fancied  they 
saw  at  last  a  nation  founded  on  the  highest  Christian, 


I 


social,  and  economic  principles.  He  wrote  criticisms  t 
on  the  proposed  constitution,  which  were  answered  by/ 
John  Adams  in  three  volumes. 

In  bis  celebrated  letter  to  Dr.  Richard  Price,  March 
22,  1778,  he  writes:  "She  [America]  is  independent 
beyond  recovery.  Will  she  be  free  and  happy  ?  Will 
she  give  to  the  world  an  example  of  a  constitution 
under  which  man  may  enjoy  his  rights,  freely  exercise 
all  his  faculties,  and  be  governed  only  by  nature, 
reason,  and  justice.?  "  "  They  [Americans]  are  the  hope 
of  the  world.  They  may  become  a  model  to  it.  They 
may  prove  by  fact  that  men  may  be  free,  and  yet 
tranquil,  and  rescue  themselves  from  the  bonds  in 
which  tyrants  have  placed  them.  They  may  exhibit 
an  example  of  political,  religious,  and  commercial 
liberty,  and  of  industry.  The  asylum  they  open  to  ' 
the  oppressed  of  all  nations  should  console  the  earth." 
"  He  thought  that  the  example  of  America  would 
benefit  the  world  by  compelling  princes  to  be  just." 
"  He  foresaw  our  vanity  and  prejudices,  and  cautioned 
us  against  the  bad  practices  of  Europe," — America  be- 
coming an  image  of  Europe, —  "a  mass  of  divided 
powers    contending   for    territory  and    commerce,  and 


28 

continually  cementing  the  slavery  of  the  people  by  their 
own  blood."  He  foresaw  the  danger  from  slavery  in 
the  Southern  States  ("  slavery  incompatible  with  a  good 
political  constitution  "). 

"The  glory  of  arms  is  nothing  to  those  who  enjoy 
the  happiness  of  living  in  peace.  The  glory  of  arts 
and  sciences  belongs  to  every  man  who  can  acquire  it. 
The  field  of  discovery  is  boundless,  and  all  profit  by 
the  discoveries  of  all."  "I  believe  the  Americans  are 
bound  to  become  great,  not  by  war,  but  by  culture." 

"  He  feared  for  us  the  influence  of  the  commercial 
spirit  \_resp}it  inercantile\  the  prejudice  of  the  aristo- 
cratic English  against  our  republican  constitution, 
taxation,  prohibitive  laws,  exclusive  commerce."  Had 
we  heeded  these  cautions,  we  should  be  the  "  model 
republic  "  to-day. 

It  was  that  V esprit  mercantile  which  led  us  to  per- 
mit the  introduction  of  slavery  into  our  Constitution,  to 
the  disgraceful  Mexican  War,  to  our  own  Civil  War, 
and,  above  all,  to  this  silly,  wicked  war  with  Spain, 
struggling,  as  we  once  did,  to  preserve  her  union ; 
again,  to  this  excessive  so-called  protective  tariff,  lead- 
ing logically  to  anarchy,  and  to  rejoicing  in  the  com- 
mercial and  industrial  misfortunes  of  other  peoples. 


I 


29 

He  met  his  approaching  death  with  the  utmost 
serenity,  because  of  his  belief  in  God,  goodness,  truth, 
and  immortality. 

He  died  in  Paris,  March  1%  1781,  fifty-four  years 
of  age. 


SOME   OF   THE    IDEAS,    PRINCIPLES,   OR 
LESSONS   TAUGHT  BY  TURCOT, 


In  the  first  place,  we  have  a  man  of  entire  truth, 
purity,  simplicity,  moderation,  courage,  and  cheerful- 
ness. "He  believed  truth  to  be  the  most  powerful  of 
our  moral  perceptions."  He  never  recommended  a 
measure  because  it  was  expedient  or  favorable  to  his 
party,  but  because  he  believed  it  to  be  true  and  for  the 
benefit  of  all  France.  In  the  preambles  of  his  edicts 
he  endeavored  always  to  make  this  appear. 

Amid  the  impurity  of  the  court  he  kept  his  own 
purity.     "  Still  amid  noise,  spotless  amid  sin." 

Moderation  in  reform.  A  fanatical  love  of  liberty 
and  patriotism  were  not  virtues  in  his  eyes. 

Bold  before  the  king,  a  people  in  riot,  and  official 
corruption. 

He  exhibited  that  rarest  of  all  virtues,  the  posses- 
sion of  contrasted  qualities  in  one  person, —  justice  and 
humanity,   firmness   and    sensibility,  exact  reason  and 


31 

subtle  action.  The  key-note  to  his  aims  and  theory 
was  not  pity  or  benevolence,  but  justice ;  and  yet  no 
one  felt  more  or  did  more  for  his  suffering  fellow- 
countrymen  than  he.  "  He  rated  practical  work  very 
low  compared  with  the  achievements  of  the  student  and 
thinker."  "  It  is  the  dreamer  who  rules  the  world : 
practical  men  only  think  they  do."  "The  happy  com- 
bination is  when  the  two  are  found  in  one  person,  as 
they  were  in  Turgot."  "  The  light  that  a  man  of  letters 
is  able  to  diffuse  must  sooner  or  later  destroy  all  the 
artificial  evils  of  the  human  race,  and  place  it  in  a  posi- 
tion to  enjoy  all  the  good  that  nature  offers."  He  was 
an  optimist  and  a  Platonist. 

He  believed  in  the  "plain  people,"  that  they  are 
capable  of  and  desirous  of  instruction  and  morality. 
"  You  cannot  serve  the  people  by  lying  to  them,"  or 
distrusting  or  playing  with   them. 

The  Physiocrates,  of  whom  he  was  the  most  brilliant 
member,  were  the  first  to  introduce  common  sense  and 
scientific  methods  into  the  treatment  of  social,  econom- 
ical, and  political  questions.  The  errors  inseparable 
from  the  first  steps — a  degraded  people,  a  corrupt  and 
selfish  nobility  and  kings  —  prevented  them  from  realiz- 


32 

ing  them  in  their  own  day.  But  through  Adam  Smith, 
Bentham,  Thomas  Place,  the  two  Mills,  Sir  Robert 
Peel,  Cobden,  Gladstone,  and  others,  the  work  has 
gone  on,  and  will  go  on  to  the  perfect  day, 

He  considered  unjust  laws  the  chief  cause  of  im- 
morality.    He  desired  the  people  to  enjoy 

1.  Free  Trade  ; 

2.  Unrestriction ; 

3.  One  simple  land  tax  ; 

4.  Simple  civil  laws  ; 

5.  Humane  and  just  criminal  laws. 

A  government  based  on  such  principles  would  be  a 
republic.  But  Turgot  used  to  say,  "  I  have  never  seen 
A  TRULY  REPUBLICAN  constitution."  This  was  simply 
because  there  had  never  been  one,  and,  alas  !  is  not  now. 

"Almost  every  social  and  economical  improvement 
in  Europe  and  America,  for  the  last  hundred  years  or 
more,  had  its  germ  in  the  teaching  of  men  who  be- 
longed to  that  early  economists'  '  School  of  France.' " — 
Stephens's  Turgot,  p.  65. 

"Turgot's  letter  of  Feb.  15,  1765,  on  the  doctrine  of 
Free  Trade,  is  a  model  of  argument  on  that  subject 
now  as  well  as  then." 


33 

"  To  see  life  made  easier  and  nobler  for  the  people 
was  ever  the  yearning  of  his  heart.  Through  his  public 
career,  from  first  to  last,  and  after  his  seeming  disgrace 
as  well,  we  have  seen  how  true  he  was  to  the  aspiration 
of  his  youth."  —  Stephens's  Ttirgot. 

To  show  this,  Mr.  Stephens  quotes  from  letters 
written  at  the  Sorbonne  in  his  youth,  and  from  his  last 
written  State  paper.  The  labors,  the  disappointments 
of  life,  had  not  dimmed  the  dreams  of  his  youth. 


SOME   OF   THE    OPINIONS    OR  ESTIMATES 

OF    HIM    BY    CONTEMPORARIES    AND 

OTHERS. 


CoNDORCET,  his  great  biographer,  in  his  "Vie  de 
Turgot,"  which  should  be  familiar  to  every  one  in  the 
public  service,  writes  :  "  His  official  career  is  forever 
memorable  in  the  history  of  social  politics.  Never  had 
a  public  man  given  himself  to  the  service  of  the  com- 
munity with  more  earnest  and  unselfish  devotion. 
Altogether  one  of  the  most  massive  and  imposing 
figures  of  the  eighteenth  century.  A  character  of 
austere  grandeur  and  single-mindedness,  absolutely  un- 
selfish./  He  lived  only  for  France,  truth,  and  duty." 

Malebranche  said  of  him,  "  He  had  the  head  of 
Bacon,  and  the  heart  of  L'Hopital." 

Voltaire,  on  hearing  of  the  dismissal  of  Turgot, 
writes,  "  I  am  overwhelmed  by  despair,  I  am  really 
dead  since  Turgot  is  deprived  of  power."  He  ad- 
dressed to  him  the  fine  "  Epitre  a  un  Homme." 


35 

The  Archbishop  of  Aix  said,  "  I  feel  it  an  honor  to 
have  been  born  in  the  century  with  Turgot," 

Dr.  Richard  Price,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  of  London,  the 
steadfast  friend  of  America  during  our  Revolution, 
a  correspondent  of  Turgot,  writes  of  him  :  "  A  new 
reign  produced  a  new  minister  of  finance  in  France, 
whose  name  will  be  respected  by  posterity  for  a  set 
of  measures  as  new  to  the  political  world  as  any  late 
discoveries  in  the  system  of  nature  have  been  to 
the  philosophical  world.  These  measures  are  distin- 
guished by  their  tendency  to  lay  a  solid  foundation  for 
endless  peace,  industry,  and  a  general  enjoyment  of 
the  gifts  of  nature,  arts,  and  commerce." —  Observa- 
tions, by  Richard  Price,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  p.  107. 

John  Stuart  Mill  writes  of  him  in  his  Autobiography, 
page  113:  "Long  before  I  had  enlarged  the  basis  of 
my  intellectual  creed,  I  had  obtained  poetic  culture  by 
means  of  reverential  admiration  for  the  lives  and  char- 
acters of  heroic  persons,  especially  of  the  heroes  of 
philosophy  ;  above  all,  by  Condorcet's  '  Life  of  Tur- 
got,' one  of  the  wisest  and  noblest  of  lives  by  one  of 
the  wisest  and  noblest  of  men.  His  heroic  virtue 
deeply  affected  me ;  and  I  recurred  to  it,  as  others  do 


36 

to  a  favorite  poet,  when  needing  to  be  carried  up  into 
the  more  elevated  regions  of  thought  and  feeling. 
This  book  cured  me  of  my  sectarian  follies.  The 
passage  commencing,  '  II  regardait  toute  secte  comme 
nuisible,'  and  explaining  why  Turgot  always  kept  him- 
self perfectly  distinct  from  the  Encyclopaedists,  sank 
deeply  into  my  mind.  I  left  off  designating  myself  and 
others  as  Utilitarians ;  and  by  the  pronoun  'we,'  or  any 
other  collective  designation,  I  ceased  to  afficJicr  secta- 
rianism."— J.  S.  MilTs  AiitobiograpJiy,  p.  113. 

John  Morley  writes,  "  His  [Turgot's]  sublime  intellect- 
ual probity  never  suffered  itself  to  be  tempted." 

A.  V.  Dicey,  in  New  York  Nation,  vol.  xxi.,  p. 
321  :  "Voltaire,  the  prophet,  Turgot,  the  saint  of  phi- 
losophers." 

The  French  economist,  Jean  Baptiste  L^on  Say, 
who  came  soon  after  M.  Turgot,  writes :  "  I  speak  of 
Turgot  not  as  a  defeated  man,  but  as  a  victor,  because, 
if  he  failed  in  the  eighteenth  century,  he  has  in  fact 
dominated  the  century  following.  He  founded  the 
Political  Economy  of  the  nineteenth  century ;  and,  by 
the  freedom  of  industry  which  he  bequeathed  to  us,  he 
has  impressed  on  the  nineteenth  century  the  mark 
which  will  best  characterize  it  in  history." 


37 

Again  :  "There  are  hardly  any  works  which  can  yield 
to  the  journalist  and  to  the  statesman  an  ampler  har- 
vest of  facts  and  of  instruction  than  may  be  found  in 
the  writings  of  Turgot." —  Traits  d' Economie  Politique, 
ii.  555,  quoted  by  Stephens  in  his  "  Life  of  Tnrgot." 
Extracts  from  Carlyle's  "  French  Revolution  "  :  — 
"There  is  a  young,  still  docile,  well-intentioned 
King;  a  young  beautiful  and  bountiful,  well-intentioned 
Queen ;  and  with  them  all  France,  as  it  were,  become 
young.  Instead  of  a  profligate,  bankrupt  Abb£^  Terray, 
we  have  now,  for  Controller-General,  a  virtuous,  philo- 
sophic Turgot,  with  a  whole  Reformed  France  in  his 
head.  By  whom  whatsoever  is  wrong,  in  France  or 
otherwise,  will  be  righted  —  as  far  as  possible.  Is  it 
not  as  if  Wisdom  herself  were  henceforth  to  have  seat 
and  voice  in  the  Council  of  Kings  .■*  Turgot  has  taken 
office  with  the  noblest  plainness  of  speech  to  that  ef- 
fect ;  been  listened  to  with  the  noblest  royal  trustful- 
ness. It  is  true,  as  King  Louis  objects,  'They  say  he 
never  goes  to  Mass';  but  liberal  France  likes  him 
little  worse  for  that ;  liberal  France  answers,  '  The 
Abbe  Terray  always  went.'  Philosophism  sees,  for  the 
first    time,  a    Philosophe   (or   even   a   Philosopher)    in 


38 

office  ;  she  in  all  things  will  applausively  second  him  ; 
neither  will  light  old  Maurepas  obstruct,  if  he  can 
easily  help  it." 

"Turgot  is  altering  the  Corn-trade,  abrogating  the 
absurdest  Corn-laws." 

"  Turgot  has  faculties ;  honesty,  insight,  heroic  voli- 
tion ;  but  the  Fortunatus'  Purse  he  has  not.  Sanguine 
Controller-General ! " 

"...  On  the  very  threshold  of  the  business,  he  pro- 
poses that  the  Clergy,  the  Noblesse,  the  very  Parle- 
ments  be  subjected  to  taxes  like  the  People!  One 
shriek  of  indignation  and  astonishment  reverberates 
through  all  the  Chateau  galleries  ;  M.  de  Maurepas  has 
to  gyrate :  the  poor  King,  who  had  written  a  few  weeks 
ago,  '  II  n'y  a  que  vous  et  moi  qui  aimions  le  peuple  ' 
(There  is  none  but  you  and  I  that  has  the  people's  in- 
terest at  heart),  must  write  now  a  dismissal  ;  and  let 
the  French  Revolution  accomplish  itself,  pacifically  or 
not,  as  it  can." 

"  As  for  the  man's  opinion,  it  is  not  listened  to ; 
wherefore  he  will  soon  withdraw,  a  second  time ;  back 
to  his  books  and  his  trees.  In  such  King's  Council 
what  can  a  good  man  profit  ?    Turgot  tries  it  not  a  sec- 


39 

ond  time :  Turgot  has  quitted  France  and  this  Earth, 
some  years  ago ;  and  now  cares  for  none  of  these 
things." 

In  1876  the  Society  d'Economie  Politique  of  France 
caused  a  medal  to  be  struck  in  joint  honor  of  Turgot 
and  Adam  Smith.  There  can  be  no  doubt  that  the 
great  Frenchman  influenced  the  great  Englishman. 

It  has  been  said  of  France  that,  though  the  bulk  of 
the  people  is  so  near  the  animal,  no  race  has  produced 
so  many  men  of  genius.  Here,  certainly,  was  one  in 
the  field  of  politics,  legislation,  administration,  and 
economics. 

Quisnam  igitur  liber?     Sapiens  sibi  qui  impcriosus, 
Quern  neque  pauperies,  neque  mors  neque  vincula  tcrrcnt, 
Responsare  cupidinibus,  contemncrc  honores 
Fortis,  et  in  se  ipso  totus,  teres  atque  rotundus 
Externi  ne  quid  valeat  per  leve  morari, 
In  quern  manca  ruit  semper  Fortuna. 

Horace,  Satires,  ii.,  7,  83. 

"  Who,  then,  is  free  .■•  the  wise  man  iv/io  has  dominion 
over  Jiiviscif ;  whom  neither  poverty,  nor  death,  nor 
chains  affright ;  brave  in  the  checking  of  his  appetites 


40 

and  in  contemning  honors ;  and,  perfect  in  himself, 
polished  and  round  as  a  globe,  so  that  nothing  from 
without  can  retard,  in  consequence  of  its  smoothness ; 
against  whom  misfortune  ever  advances  ineffectually." 
Smart's  Translation. 

I  have  found  it  very  difficult  to  learn  the  date  of  the 
death  and  the  place  of  interment  of  M.  Turgot. 
Lately,  however,  through  the  great  patience  and  in- 
dustry of  M.  Eraile  Terquem,  the  well-known  book- 
seller of  Paris,  I  am  informed  that  "  M.  Turgot  died  at 
his  hotel.  Rue  de  Bourbon,  and  was  buried  in  the 
church  of  the  Incurables"  (journal  of  Paris,  22d  of 
March,   1781,  Interments). 


AUTHORITIES. 


I  have  quoted  freely  from  them  without  acknowledgment. 

"  La  Vie  de  Turgot,"  contained  in  Condorcct's  works. 

The  Life  and  Writings  of  Turgot,  by  W.  Walker  Stephens. 
London:  Longmans,  Green  &  Co.     1895. 

An  article  in  the  Encyclopaedia  Britannica,  by  J.  H.  Ingraham. 

An  article  in  Larusse's  Dictionnaire  Universelle. 

Critical  Essays,  by  John  Morley. 

Saturday  Review,  vol.  xvi.,  1832. 

Dial,  Chicago,  vol.  xix.,  p.  138. 

"Turgot,"  by  A.  V.  Dicey,  New  York  Nation,  vol.  xxi.,  p.  312. 

Notes  made  by  F.  Tillemont  Thomason,  of  Boston. 

Autobiography,  by  John  Stuart  Mill. 

Observations  on  the  Importance  of  the  American  Revolution, 
by  Richard  Price,  D.D.,  LL.D.  London:  T.  Cadctt.  1785. 
With  a  letter  from  M.  Turgot. 

Horace,  Smart's  Translation. 

There  is  an  admirable  collection  of  works  on  M.  Turgot  in  llie 
Athenx'um  and  Public  Library. 

I  was  very  much  aided  in  this  study  by  the  very  intelligent  and 
accommodating  female  assistants  of  these  two  institutions. 


TURCOT. 


{Lines  on  the  anniversary  of  his  death,  20  March,  1781.) 

Turcot  !  —  a  name  to  conjure  with  ; 
A  name  for  coming  ages  to  admire: 

A  soul  quite  godlike  !  —  marrow-pith 
Of  honesty  and  intellectual  fire. 

One  hundred  years  and  two  decades 
Since  thy  decease  have  served  but  to  inspire 

A  silly  world  —  where  memory  soon  fades  — 
With  nobler  vistas  of  thy  great  desire. 

Since  the  past  century  the  world 
Has  suffered  turmoils  thou  didst  seek  avert ; 

Those  of  thy  day  thy  wisdom  hurled 
Into  the  roadway,  trod  it  in  the  dirt. 

Thou  then  aside  in  sorrow  turned ; 
Meekness  and  pity  made  thee  greater  still : 

'Midst  torture  men  thy  lesson  learned, 
Which  had  been  painless,  had  they  heard  thy  will. 


43 

'Tis  ever  thus,  good  men  betrayed, 
Distrusted,  hated,  spat  upon,  and  curst ; 

While  rogues  in  tinsel-gilt  arrayed 
Barter  a  State  to  assuage  their  greedy  thirst. 

But  truth  once  uttered  must  prevail. 
However  long  the  biding-time  may  wage  : 

Men  yet  unborn  shall  gladly  hail 
Thy  precepts,  Turcot,  in  the  coming  age ! 

F.  Tillemont-Thomason. 
March  i8,  1898. 


c 


LETTER  OF  M.  TURCOT,  MINISTER  OF 

STATE  IN  FRANCE,  TO  DR.  PRICE, 

OF   LONDON. 


Mr.  Franklin  has  given  me,  sir,  as  coming  from 
you,  the  new  edition  of  your  "Observations  upon  Civil 
Liberty,"  etc.  I  owe  you  a  double  debt  of  gratitude : 
first,  for  the  book  itself,  the  value  of  which  I  have  long 
known,  and  which  I  read  with  eagerness  when  it  first 
appeared,  notwithstanding  the  manifold  occupations 
which  overwhelmed  me ;  second,  for  the  courtesy  with 
which  you  retracted  your  accusation  of  my  /ack  of 
policy,^  blame  which  you  mingled  with  the  praise  you 

»This  refers  to  certain  details  couceming  tlie  administration  of  M.  Turgot,  which  are 
found  in  the  second  treatise  upon  "  Civil  Liberty  and  the  American  War,"  by  Dr.  Price 
(page  150,  etc.).  In  the  first  edition  of  this  treatise,  Mr.  Price  had  mentioned,  as  one  of 
the  causes  of  M.  Turgot's  dismissal,  his  lack  of  tact.  The  latter,  in  a  most  valuable 
letter,  informed  the  virtuous  Englishman  of  the  real  reasons  which  had  led  to  the  removal 
from  his  official  position.  .Sucli  was  the  origin  of  a  correspondence  lasting  until  the  death 
of  Turgot,  and  to  which  belongs  the  letter  the  reader  has  before  him.  How  the  upright 
men,  the  enlightened  minds  in  all  countries  of  the  globe,  mourn  the  friend  of  humanity, 
the  philosopher,  the  man  great  by  his  vast  understanding,  very  great  by  his  genius,  still 
greater  by  his  virtues;  the  man  who  had  approached  kings,  lived  in  courts,  negotiated  with 


45 

otherwise  bestowed  upon  me  in  your  additional  obser- 
vations. I  might  have  merited  this  reproach  if  you 
had  no  other  unskilfulness  in  mind  than  that  of  not 
being  able  to  unravel  the  intrigues  which  were  woven 
around  me  by  persons  much  more  skilled  in  this  art 
than  myself, —  an  accomplishment  I  will  never  have  and 
which  I  never  wish  to  have.  But  it  seemed  to  me  that 
you  accused  me  of  having  so  little  tact  as  to  shock 
rudely  the  public  opinion  of  my  nation ;  and  in  this 
respect  I  believe  that  you  neither  rendered  justice  to 
me  nor  to  the  nation, —  a  people  where  there  are  many 
more  brilliant  lights  than  is  commonly  supposed  in  your 
country,  and  where  it  is  perhaps  easier  to  convert  the 
public  mind  to  reasonable  ideas  than  is  the  case  with 
you.  These  assertions  I  judge  to  be  true  by  the  infatu- 
ation of  your  nation  for  this  absurd  project  of  subjugat- 
ing America,  which  lasted  until  the  disaster  of  Burgoyne 

all  sorts  and  condiuons  of  men,  and  had,  nevertheless,  kept  such  principles,  such  senti- 
ments, and  such  opinions,  and  yet  who  was  not  permitted  to  restore  a  kingdom  whose 
faults  or  wisdom  were  of  equal  importance  to  humanity!  I  know  among  those  who  have 
governed  the  world  only  one  —  Marcus  Aurelius  —  worthy  of  having  left  a  like  spiritual 
work.  Marcus  Aurelius  made  the  happiness  of  the  world,  by  whom  he  was  and  is  adored ; 
and  Turgot  was  not  permitted  to  remain  Minister  of  France  for  two  years.  And  in  the 
present  generation,  the  generation  honored  by  his  works,  by  his  noble  deeds,  may  be 
counted  a  very  large  number  of  his  detractors  and  of  his  enemies. 


46 

commenced  to  open  the  eyes  of  the  English  people.  I 
judge  it  to  be  true  by  the  ideas  of  monopoly  and  exclu- 
sion which  predominate  in  the  minds  of  all  your  politi- 
cal writers  on  commerce  (I  except  Mr.  Adam  Smith 
and  Dean  Tucker), —  a  system  which  is  the  real  reason 
for  the  separation  from  your  colonies.  And  I  also 
infer  it  from  all  your  polemical  writings  on  the  questions 
which  have  agitated  you  for  twenty  years  ;  yet,  in  all 
these  productions,  before  your  work  on  the  subject 
appeared,  I  cannot  remember  ever  having  read  one 
where  the  main  point  at  issue  was  apprehended.  I 
cannot  conceive  how  a  nation,  which  has  cultivated 
with  so  much  success  all  branches  of  natural  sciences, 
has  been  able  to  remain  so  far  below  its  natural  capa- 
bilities in  the  most  interesting  of  all  sciences,  that  of 
the  public  welfare, —  a  science  in  which  the  liberty  of 
the  press,  freedom  only  found  in  England,  should  have 
given  that  nation  a  marvellous  advantage  over  all 
others  of  Europe.  Is  it  national  pride  which  has 
hindered  you  from  profiting  from  this  advantage  ?  Is 
it  because  you  were  slightly  better  off  than  the  others 
that  you  have  turned  all  your  speculations  toward  per- 
suading yourself  that  you  were  lacking  in  nothing  }     Is 


47 

it  the  spirit  of  factions,  the  desire  to  gain  the  support 
of  popular  opinion,  which  has  retarded  your  progress 
in  making  your  politics  treat  as  useless  metaphysical  * 
doctrines  all  thought  toward  establishing  fixed  prin- 
ciples concerning  the  rights  and  real  interests  of  indi- 
viduals and  of  nations  ?  How  is  it  that  you  should  be 
almost  the  first  among  your  writers  to  conceive  just 
ideas  of  liberty,  and  to  show  the  falseness  of  that 
hackneyed  notion  sustained  by  nearly  all  of  the  most 
republican  writers, —  i.e.,  that  liberty  consists  in  being 
subject  only  to  the  law,  as  if  a  man  oppressed  by  an 
unjust  law  could  call  himself  free  ?  This  could  not 
even  be  true  if  one  were  to  suppose  that  all  the  laws 
are  the  production  of  the  assembled  nation  ;  for,  in  the 
end,  the  individual  also  has  rights  which  the  nation 
can  only  take  from  him  by  violence  and  by  an  illegal 
use  of  power.  Although  you  have  recognized  this 
truth,  and  reasoned  it  out  to  yourself,  perhaps  it  merits 
still  broader  attention  from  you,  considering  the  slight 
interest  which  has  been  shown  in  this  question  by  the 
most  zealous  partisans  of  liberty. 

It  is  indeed  a  strange  thing  that  in  England  it  was 

*See  Mr.  Burke's  letter  to  tlie  sheriff  of  Bristol. 


48 

not  a  trivial  truth  to  say  that  one  nation  may  never 
have  the  right  to  govern  another,  and  that  such  a  gov- 
ernment cannot  have  other  foundation  than  force, 
which  is  also  the  foundation  of  robbery  and  tyranny ; 
that  the  tyranny  of  nations  is  the  most  cruel  and  intol- 
erable of  all  known  tyrannies, —  that  which  leaves  the 
least  recourse  on  the  part  of  the  oppressed.  For,  in  the 
end,  a  despot  is  always  checked  in  his  own  interests,  he 
may  feel  the  curb  of  his  own  remorse  or  the  reproach 
of  public  opinion  ;  but  a  multitude  does  not  calculate, 
never  experiences  any  remorse  and  claims  the  most 
glory  when  it  merits  the  most  shame. 

The  events  which  for  several  months  have  been  pre- 
cipitating themselves  with  an  ever-increasing  rapidity 
are,  for  the  English  people,  a  terrible  commentary  on 
your  book.  The  denouement  has  been  reached,  so  far 
as  America  is  concerned.  We  see  her  irrevocably  in- 
dependent. Will  she  be  happy  in  her  f'-eedom  ?  This 
new  nation  is  situated  so  advantageously  to  give  the 
world  the  example  of  a  constitution  where  the  indi- 
vidual enjoys  all  his  rights,  freely  uses  all  his  faculties, 
and  is  only  to  be  governed  by  nature,  right,  and  jus- 
tice ;  but  will  the  people   know,  how  to  form   such  a 


49 

•constitution  ?  Will  they  know  how  to  ground  it  upon 
eternal  foundations,  how  to  foresee  all  causes  of  divi- 
sion and  of  corruption  which  may  gradually  undermine 
and  destroy  it  ? 

I  confess  I  am  not  satisfied  with  the  constitutions 
which,  up  to  this  time,  have  been  drawn  up  by  the  dif- 
ferent American  States.  You  rightly  reproach  that  of 
Pennsylvania  for  exacting  the  religious  oath  in  order 
that  a  citizen  may  become  a  member  of  the  Represen- 
tatives. The  others  are  worse.  There  is  one,  I  be- 
lieve that  of  the  Jerseys,  which  exacts  that  one  should 
believe  in  the  divinity  of  Christ.*  In  a  great  number 
of  these  constitutions  I  see  a  useless  imitation  of  Eng- 
lish  customs.  Instead  of  uniting  all  authority  in  one 
source  alone, —  the  nation, —  different  bodies  have  been 
established  :  a  House  of  Representatives,  a  Council  or 
Senate,  a  Governor,  because  England  has  a  House  of 
Commons,  a  House  of  Lords,  and  a  King.  They  have  • 
tried  to  balance  these  different  powers,  as  if  this  equi- 
librium of  forces,  which  has  always  been  thought  neces- 

*  It  is  the  constitution  of  Delaware  that  imposes  the  necessity  of  this  oath.  That  of 
New  Jersey,  more  impartial,  prohibits  all  preference  of  one  sect  to  another,  and  accords 
equal  rights  and  privileges  to  all  Protestants.  (Hereafter,  in  regard  to  this  subject,  see 
the  work  of  Dr.  Price,  to  which  I  have  taken  the  liberty  of  annexing  some  notes.) 


so 

sary  to  outweigh  the  preponderance  of  royalty,  could 
be  of  any  service  in  republics  founded  upon  the  equality 
of  all  citizens,  and  as  if  the  forces,  which  by  themselves 
established  different  bodies,  were  not  in  reality  the  true 
causes  of  divisions.  In  striving  to  prevent  imaginary 
dangers,  actual  ones  have  been  created.  They  wish  to 
have  nothing  to  fear  from  the  clergy  :  they  unite  it 
under  the  barrier  of  a  general  proscription.  In  exclud- 
ing it  from  the  right  of  eligibility,  a  separate  body  has 
been  made  of  it, —  an  element  foreign  to  the  State. 
Why  should  a  citizen  having  the  same  interests  as 
others  in  regard  to  common  protection  of  liberty  and  of 
his  property  be  excluded  from  offering  to  the  public 
good  his  knowledge  and  his  virtue  simply  because  he 
belongs  to  a  profession  which  in  itself  requires  enlight- 
enment and  virtuous  living  >  The  Church  is  only  dan- 
gerous when  it  exists  as  a  body  separate  from  the 
State,  when  it  believes  itself  entitled  to  rights  and 
interests  as  an  organization,  when  a  religion  pretends 
to  be  recognized  as  one  established  by  the  law,  as  if 
men  could  have  any  right  or  interest  in  regulating 
each  other's  consciences,  as  if  the  individual  could 
sacrifice  for  social  advantage  the  opinion  upon  which 


SI 

he  believes  his  eternal  salvation  depends,  as  if  saving 
or  damning  of  souls  were  done  by  wholesale.  Where 
true  tolerance  is  established,  where  the  government 
recognizes  its  absolute  powerlessness  over  the  con- 
sciences of  individuals,  the  ecclesiast,  when  he  is  ad- 
mitted to  the  national  assemblies,  is  only  a  citizen. 
He  becomes  an  ecclesiast  only  when  he  is  debarred 
from  them. 

I  fail  to  see  that  enough  attention  has  been  given 
to  reducing  to  a  minimum  the  various  kinds  of  legis- 
lation intrusted  to  the  government  of  each  State,  and 
likewise  there  has  been  little  attempt  made  to  separate 
cases  for  general  administration  from  those  pertaining 
to  more  local  and  particular  legislation.  Nor  has 
enough  thought  been  given  to  establishing  local  sub- 
sisting councils,  which,  fulfilling  nearly  all  the  detailed 
functions  of  the  government,  would  obviate  the  neces- 
sity of  the  general  conventions  giving  any  attention  to 
these  matters ;  and  thus  from  the  members  of  the 
latter  might  be  removed  all  means,  and  perhaps  all 
desire,  for  abusing  an  authority  which  could  only  be 
applied  to  general  subjects,  and  which  must  therefore 
be  foreign  to  all  the  smaller  passions  which  agitate 
mankind. 


52 

I  fail  to  see  that  any  attention  has  been  paid  to 
the  great  and  only  distinctions  between  classes  of  men 
which  can  be  founded  upon  nature,  the  one  of  land- 
owners, and  the  other  of  non-proprietors.  Their  in- 
terests seera  to  have  been  neglected,  and  consequently, 
also,  their  differing  rights  relative  to  legislation,  the 
administration  of  justice  and  law,  contributions  to  pub- 
lic expenditures,  and  the  use  of  the  same. 

No  fixed  principle  established  as  to  taxation. 

It  is  presupposed  that  each  province  can  levy  its 
own  taxes  according  to  its  fancy,  can  establish  per- 
sonal taxes,  taxes  upon  its  consumptions  and  importa- 
tions ;  that  is  to  say,  it  is  able  to  create  interests  for 
itself  contrary  to  those  of  other  provinces. 

Everywhere  is  inferred  the  right  to  regulate  com- 
merce. Even  the  executive  bodies  or  the  governors 
are  authorized  to  prohibit  the  exportation  of  certain 
commodities  in  special  emergencies,  so  far  are  they 
from  comprehending  that  the  law  of  entire  freedom  for 
all  commerce  is  a  corollary  of  the  proprietary  rights, 
to  such  an  extent  are  they  still  plunged  in  the  mist  of 
European  illusions. 

In  the  general  union  of  the  provinces  among  them- 


53 

selves  I  fail  to  see  complete  coalition, —  one  fusion  of 
all  these  parts  which  constitute  the  single  and  homo- 
geneous body,  the  Union.  It  is  only  an  aggregation 
of  parts,  with  not  enough  unity,  which  are  contin- 
ually in  danger  of  separating,  more  on  account  of  the 
diversity  of  their  laws,  customs,  and  opinions  than  the 
inequality  of  their  present  comparative  strength,  and 
still  more  by  the  inequality  of  their  subsequent  prog- 
ress. It  is  only  a  repetition  of  the  Dutch  Republic ; 
and  yet  the  latter  did  not  have  to  fear,  as  has  the 
new  American  Republic,  the  probable  growth  of  some 
of  its  provinces.  The  whole  edifice  is  at  present 
grounded  upon  the  false  foundation  of  political 
thoughts,  time-worn  and  common,  upon  the  presump- 
tion that  nations,  provinces,  (can  have  interests)  as 
separate  bodies,  other  than  those  possessed  by  all  indi- 
viduals ;  i.e.,  the  right  of  freedom  and  of  defending 
their  property  against  law-breakers  and  invaders.  The 
nation  at  present  is  founded  upon  ancient  prejudices  : 
the  pretended  interest  to  carry  on  more  commerce 
than  others,  not  to  buy  foreign  merchandise,  but  to 
force  the  countries  to  consume  their  own  productions 
and  the  products  of  their  manufactures ;  the  pretended 


54 

advantage  in  always  extending  its  territory,  in  acquir- 
ing such  and  such  province,  such  and  such  island,  such 
and  such  village  ;  the  desire  to  inspire  fear  in  other 
nations ;  the  wish  to  surpass  them  by  military  glory 
and  by  the  splendor  of  arts  and  sciences. 

Some  of  these  presumptions  have  fomented  in 
Europe,  because  the  old  rivalry  between  nations,  and 
also  the  ambition  of  the  crowned  heads,  have  obliged 
all  the  States  to  maintain  a  standing  army  in  order  to 
defend  themselves  against  their  armed  neighbors,  and 
have  caused  them  to  consider  military  force  as  the 
principal  part  of  the  government.  America  has  the 
good  fortune,  for  a  long  time  to  come,  not  to  have  any 
exterior  enemy  to  fear,  unless  she  should  succumb  to 
interior  division.  Therefore,  she  is  able  to,  and  should, 
appreciate  at  their  real  value  these  feigned  interests, 
these  causes  of  discord,  which  alone  are  to  be  feared 
for  her  liberty.  With  the  sacred  principle  of  commer- 
cial freedom  considered  as  a  continuation  of  proprietary 
rights,  all  the  fallacies  in  regard  to  laws  or  commerce 
disappear.  The  concern  to  extend  more  or  less  their 
jurisdiction  vanishes  before  the  principle  that  territory 
does  not  belong  to  the  nations,  but  to  the  individuals 


55 

who  have  proprietary  rights  over  the  lands ;  and  the 
question  of  deciding  to  which  province  or  State  such  a 
district,  such  a  village,  should  adhere,  ought  not  to  be 
decided  by  the  interests  of  this  same  province  or  State, 
but  by  those  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  district  or  village. 
It  is  for  them  to  assemble  to  transact  their  affairs  in 
the  place  most  conveniently  reached  by  them  ;  and  it  is 
the  decision  just  how  great  this  distance  may  be  from 
a  man's  home,  to  permit  of  his  fulfilling  his  important 
duties  in  the  general  councils  without  injuring  the 
discharge  of  his  home  cares,  which  determines  a 
national  and  rational  limitation  to  the  territory  in- 
cluded in  one  jurisdiction  or  one  State,  and  establishes 
a  unity  of  size  and  force  *  which  removes  all  danger  of 
inequality  and  all  pretension  of  superiority. 

The  advantage  gained  from  being  feared  avails  little 
when  one  is  demanding  nothing  of  others,  and  when 
one  is  in  a  position  not  liable  to  be  attacked  by  large 
forces  with  any  hope  of  success. 

The  glory  of  war  does  not  equal  the  happiness  of 
living  in  peace.     The  glory  of  the  arts  and  sciences 

*The  inequality  in  size  and  strength  of  tlie  various  States  seems  to  me  the  most  un- 
ayorable  circumstance  which  the  situation  of  the  Americans  offer.  (See  the  notes  ap- 
pended to  the  work  of  Mr.  Price.) 


S6 

belongs  to  whomsoever  wishes  to  avail  himself  of  them. 
There  are  harvests  in  these  fields  for  every  one.  The 
range  of  discoveries  is  inexhaustible,  and  the  whole 
world  profits  by  the  discoveries  of  each  individual.  I 
imagine  that  the  American  people  are  far  from  realiz- 
ing all  these  truths,  and  they  must  acknowledge  them 
in  order  to  secure  the  welfare  of  posterity.  I  do  not 
blame  their  leaders.  It  was  necessary  to  provide  for 
the  needs  of  the  moment,  in  the  face  of  an  enemy 
powerful  and  to  be  feared  ;  and  the  only  expedient  was 
such  a  union  as  has  been  formed.  There  was  no  time 
to  think  then  of  correcting  the  faults  of  the  constitu- 
tions of  the  various  States ;  but  great  care  should  be 
taken  not  to  perpetuate  these  mistakes,  and  means 
should  be  sought  to  unite  the  different  opinions  and 
interests,  and  to  bring  them  to  some  uniform  principles 
in  all  the  provinces. 

And  in  this  respect  there  are  great  obstacles  to 
conquer.     In  Canada,*  the  constitution  of  the  Roman 

*  It  appears  that  M.  Turgot  regarded  as  inevitable  the  union  of  Canada  with  the 
American  Republic.  Canada  still  belongs  to  England,  but  it  is  not  the  philosopher  who 
was  mistaken.  If  politics  could  have  done  in  the  beginning  what  they  will  infallibly  be 
forced  to  do  later,  England  jvould  no  longer  try  on  Canada  the  ruinous  experiments  in 
which  she  is  now  engaged,  and  the  true  friends  of  English  prosperity  would  rejoice. 


57 

Catholic  Church  and  the  existence  of  a  class  of  nobil- 
ity;  in  New  England,  the  spirit  of  rigid  Puritanism 
which  still  exists,  and  which,  it  is  said,  is  slightly  intol- 
erant ;  in  Pennsylvania,  a  large  number  of  citizens 
establishing,  as  a  religious  principle,  that  the  posses- 
sion of  fire-arms  is  unlawful,  and  consequently  refusing 
to  take  any  part  in  establishing,  as  the  foundation  of 
the  State,  military  force,  the  union  of  the  attributes  of 
a  good  citizen  with  those  of  a  soldier  and  militia-man, — 
an  attitude  which  necessarily  forces  the  military  profes- 
sion to  be  a  mercenary  one;  in  the  Southern  colonies, 
too  great  an  inequahty  in  the  division  of  wealth.  And 
especially  unfortunate  is  the  great  number  of  black 
slaves,  whose  bondage  is  incompatible  with  a  good 
political  constitution,  and  yet  restoring  them  their 
liberty  would  cause  an  embarrassing  situation,  forming, 
as  it  would,  two  nations  in  the  same  State. 

In  all  these  difficulties  are  to  be  seen  the  prejudices, 
the  attachment  to  established  forms,  the  custom  of  cer- 
tain systems  of  taxation  and  the  reluctance  to  estab- 
lish those  which  should  replace  them,  the  pride  of  some 
colonies  which  believe  themselves  more  powerful  than 
others,   and   an    unfortunate   commencement    of    false 


5^ 

national  pride.  I  believe  these  Americans  destined  to 
become  greater,  not  by  war,  but  by  culture.  If,  in  the 
extension  of  civilizing  forces,  they  were  to  ignore  the 
immense  wastes  which  reach  as  far  as  the  Western 
Sea,*  there  soon  would  be  established  there  a  miscella- 
neous horde  of  outlaws  and  worthless  rabble  escaped 
from  the  severity  of  the  law,  savages  and  tribes  of 
brigands  who  would  ravage  America  as  the  northern 
barbarians  ravaged  the  Roman  Empire.  From  this 
fact  arises  another  danger, —  the  necessity  of  having 
military  forces  stationed  on  the  frontiers  and  being  in 
a  constant  state  of  war.  The  colonies  bordering  the 
frontiers  would  consequently  be  more  accustomed  to 
military  action  than  others,  and  this  difference  in  mili- 
tary forces  would  form  a  terrible  incentive  and  stim- 
ulus to  dangerous  ambitions.  The  remedy  for  all  this 
would  be  to  maintain  the  standing  army,  to  which  every 
province  should  contribute  according  to  its  population. 
But  the  Americans,  who  still  have  all  the  fears  prop- 

*  By  the  Western  Sea  must  be  understood  the  northern  part  of  the  Pacific  Ocean, 
not  a  great  interior  sea  sucli  as  M .  Turgot  seems  to  have  believed  in,  according  to  the 
doctrines  of  Messrs.  d'Isle,  Bruache,  and  other  French  geographers,  who,  from  reports 
made  by  the  savages,  imagined  the  existence  of  this  Western  Sea.  The  English  were  the 
ones  who  taught  us  that  such  a  body  of  water  did  not  qxist. 


59 

erly  belonging  to  the  English,  dread  a  permanent  army 
more  than  any  other  thing.  They  are  wrong.  Nothing 
is  easier  than  to  bind  the  constitution  of  a  standing 
army  with  that  of  the  militia  in  such  a  manner  that 
thereby  the  militia  becomes  better  and  liberty  is  placed 
on  a  firmer  basis  than  before.  But  it  is  difficult  to 
calm  their  fears  on  this  point. 

Here  are  many  difficulties,  and  perhaps  the  secret 
interests  of  powerful  individuals  will  unite  with  the 
prejudices  of  the  masses  to  stop  the  efforts  of  the 
truly  wise  and  conscientious  citizens. 

It  is  impossible  not  to  formulate  the  wish  that  this 
people  may  attain  the  greatest  prosperity  of  which 
it  is  capable.  It  is  the  hope  of  the  human  race :  it 
may  become  its  model.  It  should  prove  to  the  world 
by  deeds  that  men  can  be  free  and  peaceful,  and  are 
able  to  dispense  with  fetters  of  all  kinds  which  the 
tyrants  and  various  impostors  have  pretended  to  im- 
pose upon  them  under  the  pretext  of  public  good.  It 
should  give  the  example  of  political  liberty,  religious 
liberty,  and  commercial  and  industrial  liberty.  The 
refuge  which  the  American  people  offer  to  the  op- 
pressed of  all  nations  should  be  a  source  of   comfort 


6o 

to  the  world.  The  facility  of  profiting  by  this,  to 
escape  the  consequences  of  bad  legislation,  will  force 
the  government  to  be  just  and  to  become  more  and 
more  enlightened.  The  remainder  of  the  world  will 
open  its  eyes  little  by  little  upon  the  nothingness  of 
the  delusions  which  have  always  been  practised  on  poli- 
tics. But,  in  order  that  all  these  good  results  may  be 
brought  about,  it  will  be  necessary  for  America  to  keep 
itself  from  becoming  an  image  of  our  Europe, —  a  fact 
often  reiterated  by  your  ministerial  writers.  It  must 
take  care  not  to  become  a  collection  of  divided  powers 
disputing  for  territory  among  themselves,  and  for  the 
commercial  profits  continually  cementing  the  bondage 
of  the  people  with  their  own  blood. 

All  enlightened  men,  all  friends  of  humanity,  should 
unite  their  knowledge  at  this  time,  and  concur  with  the 
thoughtful  Americans  in  the  great  work  of  their  legis- 
lation. Such  a  mission  would  be  worthy  of  you,  sir. 
I  wish  I  were  able  to  kindle  your  zeal.  If  in  this 
letter  I  have  yielded  to  the  temptation  of  pouring  out 
my  own  ideas,  this  desire  has  been  my  only  motive, 
and  will  exonerate  me,  I  hope,  from  the  ennui  I  may 
have  caused  you.     I   wish  that  the  blood  which  has 


been  shed  and  that  which  will  be  in  this  conflict  may 
not  be  fruitless  toward  procuring  the  welfare  of  the 
human  race. 

Our  two  nations  are  about  to  injure  each  other 
greatly,  without  either  one  or  the  other  drawing  any 
real  profit  by  it.  Probably  the  only  result  will  be  the 
increase  of  debts  and  expenses,  perhaps  the  bank- 
ruptcy of  the  State  and  the  ruin  of  a  great  number  of 
citizens. 

England  seems  to  me  to  be  nearer  this  crisis  than 
France.  If  instead  of  this  war  you  could  have  com- 
plied gracefully  from  the  first,  if  politics  could  have 
done  in  the  beginning  what  they  will  infallibly  be 
forced  to  do  later,  if  the  national  opinion  could  have 
permitted  your  government  to  ward  off  the  events 
(taking  it  for  granted  that  it  would  have  been  willing 
to  prevent  them),  if  it  could  have  consented  at  first  to 
the  independence  of  America  without  a  war,  by  such 
a  change  of  events  I  firmly  believe  your  nation  would 
have  lost  nothing.  As  it  is,  England  will  lose  to-day 
what  she  has  expended  in  these  colonies  and  what  she 
will  still  further  expend  ;  she  will  for  some  time  ex- 
perience  a   great    decrease    in    her    commerce,    many 


serious  internal  commotions,  if  the  nation  should  be 
forced  to  bankruptcy ;  and  in  any  case  there  is  sure 
to  be  a  great  diminution  in  her  political  influence 
abroad.  But  this  last  matter  is  of  very  little  impor- 
tance for  the  real  welfare  of  a  people  ;  and  I  am  not 
at  all  of  the  opinion  expressed  by  Abb6  Raynal,  quoted 
in  your  epigraph,*  I  do  not  believe  that  this  will 
lead  you  to  become  a  despicable  nation,  or  force  you 
into  bondage. 

On  the  contrary,  perhaps  your  misfortunes  will  have 
the  effect  of  a  necessary  amputation.  Perhaps  they 
were  the  only  method  of  saving  you  from  the  gangrene 
of  luxury  and  corruption.  If,  in  your  agitation,  you 
could  revise  your  constitution  in  making  the  elections 
annual,  dividing  the  right  of  representation  in  a  more 
equal  manner,  and  more  in  proportion  to  the  interests 
of  those  represented,  you  would  perhaps  gain  by  this 
revolution  as  much  as  has  America ;  for  your  liberty 

*  "  Nevertheless,  if  the  enjoyment  of  luxury  should  succeed  in  entirely  perverting  the 
national  morals,  if  England  lost  her  colonies  by  dint  of  extending  or  repressing  them, 
she  herself  would  sooner  or  later  be  brought  under  subjection.  This  nation  would  then 
resemble  so  many  others,  which  it  now  despises,  and  Europe  would  not  be  able  to  point 
out  to  the  universe  one  nation  in  which  it  would  dare  take  any  pride." —  Philosophical 
and  Political  History  q/  the  Commerce  of  the  Two  Indias,  Book  XIX.,  vol.  vi.  p. 
89.    Geneva,  1780. 


63 

would  remain  to  you,  and  with  it  and  by  it  you  would 
soon  repair  your  other  losses. 

Sir,  you  will  be  able  to  judge  of  the  respect  which 
you  have  inspired  in  me  by  the  candor  with  which  I 
have  spoken  on  these  delicate  points,  and  also  of  the 
satisfaction  I  experience  in  realizing  that  there  is  some 
resemblance  in  our  ways  of  thinking. 

I  count  upon  this  communication  being  absolutely 
confidential.  And  I  even  ask  you  not  to  answer  in 
detail  by  the  post,  as  your  reply  would  invariably  be 
opened ;  and  I  should  be  found  guilty  of  being  too 
great  a  friend  of  liberty  for  a  minister,  even  for  one 
who  has  been  disgraced. 

I  have  the  honor,  etc., 

(Signed)  TURCOT. 

March  22,  1778. 

{Translated  by  Helen  Billings  Morris^ 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 

Los  Angeles 

This  book  is  DUE  on  the  last  date  stamped  below. 


w 


r> 


V^ 


w 


H  EC 


APR^? 


A.iVI. 


F&B221C68 


EECO 


SiECD 


LO 


Fl-B 


El  V  E.  D 

OAN  DESK 

^1965 


io  ,  ,   .,  P.M. 


1 1^1-^^ 


^nMW 


Form  L9-32m-8,K||C¥68(jB4j444 


3*4/. 


3   71 


ui« 


SEP  -4  1975^^ 


TMB  UUKAKr 
riiSiyBBSlTT  OF  CAUFOTHia 


3  1158  01242  2 


UC  SOUTHERN  REGIONAL  LIBRARY  FA 

i  I 


AA    000  809  852 


